Wælwulfas! Pretty Pictures! QuickStarter Rules! Kickstarter 2.5!

Today we have another awesome Wælwulf to show you, news on the upcoming printing of the QuickStarter rules, some images of miniatures from this project painted, and news of our current project, Darklands: First Edition II...

Hywel Hir, Bannerman of Gwynedd

Darklands: a World of War Fulfilment

We have awesome news for you all: barring a few stragglers (ordered during and after October) - and of course the Wælwulfas and the QuickStarter rules - shipment of remaining items from Darklands: a World of War orders is pretty much complete!

Said stragglers will be shipped as soon as possible of course - we're talking around thirty miniatures, or thereabouts - so the end of March / early April is the date when we think we'll be done with those.

Remaining Sculpts

In terms of remaining sculpt progress, here's an update:

Benoît Cosse: he's sculpting the Wælwulfas and has just about finished the second miniature. We expect these to be done by the end of April, now, but again this could easily slip. We'll keep you informed, as always. We do apologise for this delay, but you must understand that Benoît Cosse is a busy man and sculpts for many other companies.

There's a few other bits and pieces yet to be done of course, so here's how progress is looking on those fronts...

QuickStarter Rules - v10.5

The latest version of the QuickStarter Rules - v10.5 - is the FINAL version before printing.

There are many minor changes from previous versions, so I would recommend - especially if you are familiar with those previous versions of the QuickStarter Rules - to have a good read through, and also please check out the Mierce Miniatures forum, in particular the "Darklands Rules Discussion" section and the "Observations from a first read" thread...

As before, please bear in mind that v10.5 of the QuickStarter Rules are to get you by until they're formatted for printing. As such, whilst they'll look very like these rules in terms of layout and the wording, they'll be a bit more... well, spangly when they're ready for print and download. Once the QuickStarter rules are printed, they will of course be sent out to you along with the remainder of your order.

Printing the QuickStarter Rules

We have excellent news: the QuickStarter Rules are about ready for print and will be shipped off to our printers, we think, by the end of next week. We hope to have them by the end of April!

Muster Rules

They include the most recent, updated rules regarding hosts, units and warriors as listed in the QuickStarter Rulebook. The Muster Rules will not be printed, please remember; they will, however, always be available for download and will always be living rules.

At some point I'll get around to putting links up on our website...!

Kindred Musters

We now have warrior profiles for each kindred's muster, each of which includes new profiles for the miniatures from Darklands: First Edition and some others besides (barring the Infernii and Sell-Swords), in the new format and ready for download. We've also updated them all to reflect all of your excellent feedback - keep it up guys and gals.

Bear in mind that any new profiles are only partially playtested - expect changes and feel free to give us feedback on the Mierce forums. Check them out for some awesome new warriors, however!

No doubt there'll be a few errors or typos - feel free to tell us about them!

It's worth noting again one major change from previous versions - gold costs. These have changed quite a lot, thanks to the introduction of new coefficients, so if you're used to the old gold costs - well, you'll have to get used to the new ones!

There's also a handy pronunciation guide (based on the Wikipedia Pronunciation Respelling Key) under the warrior's title and, at the bottom of each profile, a suggestion on which miniature from our range to use as that warrior on the battlefield.

With some musters already including new warrior profiles, it won't be long before we can give you musters for every kindred that include all of the miniatures that exist, found in this project or found in Darklands: First Edition!

If there's anything you need to know before the other warrior profiles are sorted, or about how the new format of warrior profile works, just ask on the forums please and we'll endeavour to answer your questions.

Darklands: First Edition II needs YOU!

It's been a whirlwind of a week since our next Kickstarter project, Darklands: First Edition II, went live, but we've finally got time to tell you about it - in the hope that you'll contribute, of course!

The good news is, of course, that we're funded already; our initial goal of £20,000 has been achieved very early on and the project now sits at just under £60,000.

There's still plenty of opportunity to push the project further, though - and that's why we need YOU!

Darklands: First Edition II ends on Wednesday the 23rd of April (St George's Day, of course), which means you've still got twenty-five days to get a pledge in!

What's it all about?

It's all about funding units! The point of Darklands: First Edition II is to create units for eight kindreds - Albainn, Angelcynn, Brythoniaid, Byzantii/Infernii, Fomoraic, Khthones, Norse and Ysians/Vras. Each unit includes a free, project exclusive miniature too!

It's not just the units, either - there's plenty of other stuff to go for, including beasts, commanders, more units eventually and even some accessories.

Here's what you can pledge for at the moment... this will change rapidly, so keep watching the project!

Freebies Galore!

To add amazing value to those units, if you've pledged for one you get a free, project exclusive, strictly limited edition miniature too - such as Feral Agathae below, free with the Craven Fiends of Dis!

Feral Agathae, free with the Craven Fiends of Dis

Additionally, if you've gone for the "ALL THE UNITS" or "YOU'RE THEIR DESCENDANT", you get Uhtred on Horseback - sculpted by Patrick Masson from a concept by Stefan Kopinski - for free!

Uhtred on Horseback

Watch out for more freebies as the project continues, too!

Great Value Rewards to Choose From

There's four different rewards to go for in Darklands: First Edition II, and each give you great value for your funding contribution:

"I JUST WANT SOME COOL MINIATURES" bronze reward - for those who want a few single miniatures or other bits from the project, which will be purchased them at bronze cost.

"THE GOLD SPOT" gold reward - this allows you to purchase items at gold cost. Additionally, if you go for this reward, you'll get some other extras... which we'll reveal when they're ready ;o)

"ALL THE UNITS" gold reward - this enables you to purchase all of the units shown at the beginning, at an almost 40% discount from buying them individually, and any future purchases will be at gold cost. This is a fantastic deal, especially when you add in those freebies!

The "YOU'RE THEIR DESCENDANT" gold reward mirrors the one from this project, and enables you to purchase stuff at gold cost.

There's plenty more to it than that, but that's a simple overview of what you can go for!

What's this "Bronze" and "Gold" malarkey?

Virtually every item shown on the project has a gold cost and a bronze cost in pounds sterling.

Each reward is either a "gold reward" or a "bronze reward".

Pledging for a bronze reward allows you to purchase items at bronze prices.

Pledging for a Gold reward allows you to purchase items at gold prices!

It's that simple!

(Although some items, particularly freebies, can only be purchased additionally at one cost for both gold and bronze rewards).

So what's the best deal?

Without a doubt, the "ALL THE UNITS" reward. For just £400, you get 49 miniatures (five from each unit, eight free project exclusives and Uhtred on Horseback) worth £785 when bought separately at RRP; that's almost 50% off! Not only that, but you'll get a £40 gold reward bonus with "ALL THE UNITS" - how amazing is that!

"THE GOLD SPOT" is a pretty good deal too. For just £100, you get a gold reward bonus of £10 (giving you £110 to spend) and you can pledge for miniatures at 20% off their UK RRP.

For your £100, for example, you could pledge for the Slaughterers for £80 (getting Enslaved Ágriosávra for free, too, worth £115 if purchased at RRP) and the Loyal Guard for £28 (getting Tonsured Caedoc for free, and worth £50 if purchased at RRP).

Thus, you're getting £165 worth of miniatures for pleding £100 - that's 40% off what they'd be at RRP!

There's plenty of deals to be had!

Added Benefits!

Not only do you get to fund fantastic new miniatures for the Darklands range, and up to 40% cheaper than they will be when eventually released, you also get loads more!

By backing Darklands: First Edition II, you also get

£10 added to your pledge for every £100 you contribute - called the gold reward bonus. Thus, if you've pledged £1,000, you actually get £1,100 when you manage your pledge - effectively a 10% bonus! Note: this is ONLY given to backers that have chosen a gold reward.

the chance to purchase the limited edition, project-exclusive sell-sword Uhtred on Horseback as well as other project exclusives, if you haven't got them free!

the possibility to get your hands on further deals and offers as the project continues

access to the special post-project Kickstarter category on our website, where you manage your pledge, but which also enables you to purchase miniatures from our existing range at 20% off UK RRP until the end of May

access to items from the Darklands: First Edition project in that Kickstarter category on our website until the end of May - at that project's prices!